Newspaper Page Text
Page 5A
The Upson Beacon
Thursday, July 1, 2021
Upson County COVID-19 Update
Ranew,
Continued from Front
Upson County reports
3,514 positive COVID-19
cases with 133 deaths as of
noon last Tuesday, accord
ing to the Johns Hopkins
University & Medicine Co-
ronavirus Resource Center.
Numbers reflect two
new cases (down from
six last week) and no new
deaths (down from one
last week) since Tuesday
one week prior. During that
time, Upson’s per capita in-
charged with felony fleeing
or attempting to elude po
lice officers, criminal inter
ference with government
property, second degree
criminal damage to prop
erty, felony reckless driv
ing, failure to report
striking a fixed object, fai
lure to obey stop sign, and
felony driving while license
withdrawn, along with
multiple misdemeanors.
At the scene of the
crash, a second subject
identified as Desmond
Walker of Potemkin Vil-
fection rate did not in
crease, remaining at 13.39
cases per 100 residents.
Pike County, at 12.88 per
100 residents, and Lamar
County, at 11.08 per 100,
are the only Upson-adja
cent counties also exceed
ing i-in-10 infection rate.
Monroe is at 9.98, Taylor at
9.97, and Meriwether at
9.77 per 100.
Johns Hopkins Corona-
virus Resource Center re-
lage “was attempting to re
move items from the ve
hicle involved,” the report
stated. Walker refused to
cooperate and was placed
under arrest for obstruc
tion, according to Prosser.
A search of the vehicle
uncovered two plastic
baggies containing mari
juana and a 9mm hand
gun, the report stated.
In addition to obstruc
tion, Walker was charged
with tampering with ev
idence, possession of mar
ijuana, and possession of a
ports Georgia with
iJ33,48i (up 2,249 from
last week — was up
2,362 the previous
week) positive cases and
21,393 (up 75 from last
week — was up 160 the
previous week) deaths as
of noon last Tuesday.
Johns Hopkins lists the
following confirmed cases
for counties bordering
Upson: Monroe, 2,712 (up
five) cases with 102 (up
firearm during commis
sion of a crime.
Other unrelated arrests
and charges reported by
TPD include the following:
Daniya Ticoria Ambles,
aggravated assault;
Jordan Tanner Allen,
aggravated assault;
Lillian Desiree McKin
ley, felony theft by taking;
Ronnie Holloway, ter
roristic threats and acts
(Family Violence Act) and
felony probation violation
(aggravated assault);
Cornelius Devonta
one) deaths; Pike, 2,360
(up 10) with 43 (no change)
deaths; Lamar, 2,068 (up
one) with 58 (no change)
deaths; Meriwether, 2,063
(up five) with 88 (no
change) deaths; Taylor,
809 (up one) with 26 (no
change) deaths; Crawford,
666 (up five) with 21 (no
change) deaths; and Tal
bot, 496 (up two) with 19
(up one) deaths.
Leonard, theft by receiving
stolen property;
Carol Temika (Hinton)
Tucker, theft by receiving
stolen property;
Brandel Rishard Dan
iel, theft by receiving stolen
property;
Jacob Bell, illegal pos
session of a controlled sub
stance;
Gary Lewis Kendall, fel
ony theft by shoplifting;
Phillip Raymon Prater,
felony parole violation;
Cletisha Jenae Smith,
felony probation violation.
pand.”
Ranew employs more
than 60 locally and cur
rently is advertising ad
ditional jobs which could
push the number close to
100 with expansion. The
Upson plant has graduated
from a “small user” to a
“significant user,” requiring
an additional 15,000 gal
lons per day of capacity
over its current 10,000-gal
lon allotment.
“If we don’t work any
thing out, we need to work
this out, so I’m transferring
the urgency,” Ellington
said. “We need to act.
“We’ve been offered a
lifeline from the city. If we
can do that, we need to do
it,” he concluded. “Our
problem doesn’t need to
become our industry’s
problem. We can have
meetings [on finalizing the
agreement] later - let’s
move on.”
City officials offered to
provide needed capacity to
Ranew in the interim if the
county, Industrial Devel
opment Authority, or the
industry submits a
$211,000 check to the city
as cost share for the service.
The funds would be held in
escrow with “good faith”
that the city and county
eventually will reach a con
tractual agreement, accord
ing to officials.
“I don’t think there’s
anybody sitting up here
that is not willing to go
above and beyond to do
what we need to do to take
care of the Ranew situ
ation,” Chairman Norman
Allen said. “The other as
pect is per our agreement,
Ranew is now part of the
city’s service area.
“...We’re standing by to
bring resources to bear to
correct a problem for a
service area we have no
control over, other than to
collaborate with the service
provider,” Allen continued.
“The sense of urgency is
there... we’ve got to solve
this. It’s a community issue.
Nobody’s pointing blame...
but our counterparts have
to be here. We’re ready to
act.”
Commissioner Benja
min Watson suggested the
Ranew capacity portion be
pulled from the agreement,
addressed immediately be
tween the city and county,
and the remainder of the
contract be negotiated
later.
Allen said he asked
County Attorney Paschal
English to work with City
Attorney DeAnn Wheeler
on “a path forward.”
$1,000 REWARD
for safe return or information
leading to safe return.
Tax Digest, Continued from Front
ing real estate market and new in
dustries relocating to the county,
Upson has seen a growth of over
$162 million in a recent five-year
stretch, with a growth of $54 million
since last year alone, he said.
“What’s encouraging is that over
half of this new growth since last
year is real growth and not inflation
ary growth,” Chastain commented.
“And according to the number of
new homes being built and more
businesses coming to our county
within the last year, both the tax di
gest and real growth will increase
even more in 2022.”
One more positive note, accord
ing to Chastain, is that each govern
ing authority (county, city, and
school) continues to opt for a millage
rate rollback each year. There has
not been an increase in millage rate
since 2014 by any governing au
thority.
Chase & Crash, Continued from Front
Civic Center,
The newly renovated front lobby of the T-U Civic Center. Photo Submitted
Juneteenth, Continued from Front
“Juneteenth was ap
proved federally after we
made our schedule,” he
said. “I think at some
point, we need to go back
and look at offering our
county employees a holi
day that was not available
when we made our sched
ule.
“I don’t think we need
to wait a year because at
that point, we would have
cheated our employees
out of a holiday,” Wilder
continued. “We all rec
ognize the importance of
that particular day for
people of color.”
In other business,
commissioners voted 4-0
with one abstention to
award a bid to SunSouth
of Barnesville for pur
chase of a John Deere
track loader. Commis
sioner James Ellington
abstained, citing potential
conflict because of his
employment at SunSouth.
The track loader will
be funded with proceeds
from Upson’s 2016 spe
cial purpose local option
sales tax. The county also
received bids from Yancey
Caterpillar and Bobcat of
Atlanta; Tinsley and staff
recommended approval
of the SunSouth bid.
The board voted unan
imously to approve the
appointment of Brenda
Mimbs to the library
board, Carla Brown to the
McIntosh Trail Com
munity Service Board,
and Upson Regional Med
ical Center CEO Jeff Tar
rant to the Region 4 EMS
Council.
Commissioners ap
proved resolutions adop
ting a plan to establish
Upson as a “Broadband
Ready Community” and
adopting the Upson
County Hazard Mitiga
tion Plan Update for
2021-26.
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I was diagnosed with PTSD
ten years after returning from
serving as a medic in Vietnam.
Heavy doses of prescription
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I began self-medicating and
became addicted to drugs and
alcohol. For over 20 years, I was
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When I accepted Christ as my savior, I became a better
dad and husband, got sober, and functioned better than
I had before. However I was not healed. I knew that the
Lord had more for me. Years later, I was given the book, A
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When I attended the For My Life Retreat, the power of
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People I knew were shocked at the change they saw in
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Be. a*
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Health
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Watch Hope of the
Generations Church
services live on
Sundays at 10:30 am on
YouTube.com/beinhealth
Or join us in person
Be in Health is a ministry of Hope of the Generations Church
4178 Crest Hwy (74W),Thomaston, GA 30286
Need Prayer? Call: 706-646-1488
Continued from Front
open until July 30 for
ages 7-16 at a price of
$90.
Fall baseball registra
tion is open until July 30
for ages 7-14 at a price of
$90.
Online registration
forms can be found at
https://secure.reci.com/
GA/upson-county-ga/cat-
alog.
For more information,
call the recreation depart
ment at 706-647-9691.
The Thomaston-Upson
Civic Center is open Mon
day through Friday, 8
a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sat
urdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Lost Family Pet... Hickmon Fork Road/
Sunnyside Area. This little fella was the same
one that was shot and left for dead a couple
years ago. He recovered and has been doing
very well. He is so loved by his family. Please
call (706) 741-2676 if you see him. The
family wants him back.
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5900 Highway 19 South
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470-451-6438
Monday - Friday 6 a.m. - 2 p.m. | Saturday 6 a.m. -11 a.m.